CASE STUDY
Multi-Unit Wingstop Franchise Stays Connected With Failover
When one Wingstop franchise experienced frequent internet outages, ownership turned to RCN for a reliable solution
Details
Industry: Franchise Restaurants
Use Case: Failover
Solution: When a Multi-Unit Wingstop Franchise began experiencing poor internet service that was impacting business, ownership knew a solution was needed. From the inability to accept online orders to delaying store openings, this location needed a reliable solution that would put an end to lost revenue and restore customer confidence.
Challenge
When several Wingstop locations – all owned by the same franchisee – began experiencing regular internet outages from their primary provider, customers began to take notice.
Online ordering, customer reputation, and the ability to open stores on time were all in jeopardy each time any of the 10+ locations lost a connection.
Solution
When the Franchisee’s President of Operations, Omar Martinez, reached out to RCN, he asked about Failover and what it could do for not just one, but all of his locations.
Failover, also known as backup internet, serves as a safety net for businesses by automatically activating a second Wi-Fi network when the primary internet goes down.
Benefits
The solution was able to address each of the multi-unit Wingstop franchise’s concerns, including providing a stable internet connection, enabling each location to open on time, and requiring zero IT touch from internal staff.
Background & Challenges
When intermittent internet outages soon became everyday occurrences, customer confidence began to dwindle. With several locations unable to accept online orders or open on time across several weeks, ownership began looking for a solution.
Finding A Stable Connection
Online orders make up a large portion of total sales for Wingstops, with the company reporting that digital sales made up 66.9% of all business in Q3 of 2023.
The inability to accept online orders could cripple even the most heavily trafficked locations, so it was crucial that each location owned by this franchisee had reliable internet access at all times.
Opening On Time
Primary internet outages experienced by the customer slowed down operations so much that some locations weren’t able to open on time.
Not only did this lead to lost business, but also damaged the brand’s reputation with customers.
Zero IT Touch Required
With multiple locations to support, IT staff didn’t have time to continuously troubleshoot internet outages. For this deployment, it was important to deliver a solution that required as little IT touch as possible.
When the customer learned their staff wouldn’t need to manage the solution at all – it was a game changer.
“RCN’s solution works so well that I can’t even tell when the primary internet is down anymore!”
- Omar Martinez, President of Operations
Benefits
Stable Internet Connection
Every location now has access to a reliable internet connection
Zero IT Touch Required
RCN’s solution requires zero attention from customer IT staff
Resolved Opening Issues
Each store can open on time with zero internet limitations
Inside the Solution
Failover for Branch Locations
A robust Failover solution was deployed across all sites owned by the Franchisee to ensure each store had a reliable backup network.
The Cradlepoint L950 stood out as the perfect fit for this project. The L950 is a purpose-built, indoor adapter designed for failover connectivity within branch locations.
With a maximum passthrough of 940 Mbps and two built-in switchable LAN/WAN ports, this endpoint is capable of connecting several POS systems, IoT sensors, and more.
Cellular Data from RTech
RTech Solutions provides shared data plans for businesses by partnering with major U.S. carriers like Verizon Wireless, AT&T, and T-Mobile.
Sharing data between locations instead of buying a pre-determined amount eliminates overage costs and ensures optimal performance for each individual device.
For this multi-unit Wingstop franchise, this meant that all their locations could share data so that busier locations could use a larger portion of data without incurring an overage fee.
Managed IT Support
With a zero-touch solution being a necessity for this customer, our Network Operations Center (NOC) stepped in to provide proactive managed support.
NOC provided the customer with their own remote IT staff that actively monitored devices inside every location, and if an issue were to be detected, would send real-time alerts to the customer as they begin troubleshooting.
Depending on the level of service required, NOC can also perform firmware updates, push configuration updates, and assist customers with activating new devices.
Wireless WAN Enablement Ecosystem & Vendor Consolidation
By partnering with RCN, franchised restaurants can have their connectivity projects supported by an entire team of Cradlepoint-certified IT professionals and consolidate the number of vendors they need to work with.
For this deployment, the RCN team:
Managed the Project from Start to Finish
Coordinated with RTech to Get the Right Data Plan
Procured the Hardware
Coordinated the Installation
Provided Managed IT Support
Ordinarily, the customer would’ve needed to reach out to different service providers for each of these tasks, but by working with RCN they were able to focus on running their business while we took care of the heavy lifting.
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